Love's Energy
by The Bard2
Summary: My first ever fanfic. Willow and Tara find there's power to love
1. Chapter 1

Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Love's Energy - Part 1  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins  
  
Rating - PG (New Zealand rating)  
  
Notes - Contains one borderline foul word  
  
Historians Note - This story takes place between the Season 5 episodes 'Fool For Love' and 'Shadow' (I think cos I haven't quite decided)  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to it What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit, the only exception to this is Quinton Everett III as this character is based on me you can't use it without getting my approval first.  
  
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Love's Energy - Part 1  
  
It was a stormy afternoon in Sunnydale, California and Willow Rosenberg was  
  
flipping through a spell book at the back of The Magic Box, her girlfriend, every now and then she still giggled at that term, Tara Maclay had her head resting on her shoulder watching as she flipped the pages.  
  
"Hey, hang on" Tara said stopping Willow from turning the page "That spell wasn't there yesterday, was it?"  
  
"No it wasn't" Willow replied before turning to the man behind the store counter and calling "Hey Giles um, small problem here."  
  
"What is it Willow?" asked Giles.  
  
"T-this book it appears to be growing spells, Mr Giles." Tara answered.  
  
"What? Growing spells?" Giles said as he walked over to the two women and picked up the book. "That shouldn't be possible."  
  
"Actually it is very possible books grow new spells all the time most people, even very powerful wicca don't notice." came a strong masculine voice from behind Giles. "I'm sorry I couldn't help but overhear," the voice said again as Giles turned and moved out of the way so Tara and Willow could see who had spoken, it appeared to be a young man in his mid-twenties with a goatee and a dark grey duster that was rather dry considering the weather. "Sorry where are my manners, my name is  
  
Quinton Everett the third, Practicing Sorcerer."  
  
"Y-you're a sorcerer?" asked Tara with wide eyes.  
  
"Yes and I can tell you that all magic books change over time for example this one here." Everett said taking a book off the shelf and sliding it across the table to Willow and Tara. "How many pages does it have in it?"  
  
Willow opened the book to the last page and looked at the page number. "456." she answered.  
  
"Would it surprise you to know that three years ago that book only had 356 pages." Everett told them. "In three years that book grew one hundred pages of new spells isn't that just so cool."  
  
"You know a lot about this sort of thing?" asked Giles.  
  
"Yea I did my thesis on the changing face of magic." replied Everett.  
  
"Your thesis?" asked Willow.  
  
"Yea at Gol-nath-gree Wizard University." Everett said looking around the bookshelves.  
  
"I've heard about that university it's reportedly extremely hard to get into." said Giles with a semi-surprised look on his face.  
  
"Your not wrong, if it wasn't for the fact that I was born into a family of sorcerers." said Everett sitting back down at the table.  
  
"A-aren't you worried about telling all this to people who are complete strangers?" asked Tara.  
  
"No, because you're not." replied Everett. "Strangers that is, You two." he said indicating the two women on the opposite side of the table. "Are the unlicensed witches who are friends of the slayer, and you." he said indicating Giles. "Would be the slayer's guide, formerly her watcher before the council fired you."  
  
"How do you know so much about us?" asked Willow.  
  
"I like to research my contacts plus it's a force of habit." Everett answered her.  
  
"W-what's a force of habit." asked Tara.  
  
"Knowing things." Everett replied with a shrug.  
  
"That's all well and good but getting back to this book and it's new spell." Giles interrupted trying to steer the conversation back onto topic.  
  
"Y-you w-won't report us to the wiccan authorities w-will you?" asked Tara a little nervously.  
  
"Don't worry I won't tell." Everett replied to her before pointing to Giles and saying. "But Mr Giles here was trying to get us back onto the original topic of our  
  
conversation."  
  
"Ahem yes I was." said Giles with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Mr Everett, can you tell what this spell does?" he asked.  
  
"Please call me Quinn, all my friends do." Everett answered him before holding out his hand for the book. "May I please have the book?"  
  
"Here ya go." replied Willow handing the book to him with a small smile.  
  
"Thank you Willow." Quinn said returning the smile. "Now lets see Conis mehock nowr ahh a spell to pause time in a select area."  
  
"I have never heard that language before, what is it?" asked Giles.  
  
"It's a very dead demonic language called Mi-knock toolos kemok roughly translated Very Dead Demonic, who or whatever named it had a real sense of humour." Quinn said with a laugh.  
  
"Y-you seem to know a lot about demonic languages." Tara commented.  
  
"Yea I minored in dead demonic languages." Quinn said with a far away look coming into his eyes. "Those were the best classes I took at Uni."  
  
"So Quinn, this spell," began Giles. "it freezes time?"  
  
"No, it pauses time, it lasts for only a few minutes where as freezing time lasts for hours or even days, that's a fun one to do on tutors at Uni." Quinn replied with a smile.  
  
"Ahem yes well if we can get back to the book." Giles suggested.  
  
"Yes it will continue to grow new spells until it reaches 500 pages and then it stops for a few hundred years and then it will begin to loose spells at the rate of three pages a year until it's empty." Quinn told them. "but this book appears to have come into contact with a very strong magical aura, an unusual one at that, I would have said that it was a dimensional key." Giles raised an eyebrow at those words. "but the colouring isn't quite right, and there isn't any indication of when this might have happened so it could have happened at any time over the last 250 years."  
  
"Y-you can see all that from the aura?" asked Tara.  
  
"I can actually see more that just that but the rest is unimportant." said Quinn with a smile as the blonde witch. "However I actually came here to talk with Mr Giles here, I came here to ask if you could get a book called the Fox-tell-e Demon Compendium, the 20th century edition, can you?"  
  
"Why yes I should be able to get you a copy, when do you need it by?" Giles  
  
answered with a nod walking over to the counter followed by Quinn.  
  
"Well as soon as you can would be." Quinn started but was interrupted by a loud squishing sound from the table where Willow and Tara were sitting.  
  
Quinn spun round recognising the sound instantly "Oh damn I should have told them about that." He said staring at the frozen forms of the two witches.  
  
"What, what's happened to them?" said Giles a little frantically.  
  
"They read the spell together with out direction and it paused them." Quinn answered with a frown.  
  
"Can you undo the spell?" Giles asked looking at Quinn.  
  
"Yea no prob bob" Quinn replied before holding his hand palm flat towards the table area and chanted. "Boosh arnet goomles KABOO!" and with a popping sound Willow and Tara came to life. "Thank you thank you very much, I'm here Mondays through Fridays, Try the veal it's delicious." taking a mock bow and smiling at the two witches.  
  
"W-what happened?" asked Tara.  
  
"You read the spell together without any directions." Quinn told them sitting down at the table again. "It caused the spell to affect the area surrounding the book."  
  
"So how long were we out?" asked Willow with a glance at her watch.  
  
"Only a few seconds, I undid the spell." Quinn told her. "I would advise being careful about what spells you two read together especially if you have no idea what the words actually mean."  
  
There was a jingling as the stores door opened and in walked a young brunette waved at Giles and came over to the table saying. "Hiya Mr Giles."  
  
"Hello Dawn how was school." Giles replied.  
  
"Educational." Dawn answered simply.  
  
"And this would Miss Dawn Summers." Quinn said standing and taking Dawns hand and kissing the back of it in an old fashioned way, Dawn giggled and pulled her hand away as Quinn went on with a smile. "And I am Quinton Everett the third, but you may call me Quinn."  
  
"Dawn, Quinn here is a sorcerer who wanted to buy a book." Giles told her.  
  
"You're a sorcerer?" Dawn asked in awe.  
  
"You bettcha." Quinn said snapping his fingers and producing a thornless rose from thin air and handed it to the amazed teenager. "but I must be going, Mr Giles I'll drop by tomorrow to see if you can get the book Ok."  
  
"Yes that should be fine." replied Giles.  
  
"Ok see ya all tomorrow." Quinn said, and with a wave walked out of the door. Dawn ran to the window to watch him walk down the road in the rain. "Hey his coat isn't getting wet." she yelled to the rest of the group.  
  
"Dawn, shouldn't you start your homework before your sister gets here." asked Giles.  
  
Dawn stuck out her tongue at Giles back.  
  
To be continued. 


	2. Chapter 2

Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Love's Energy - Part 2  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins  
  
Rating - PG (New Zealand rating)  
  
Historians Note - This story takes place between the Season 5 episodes 'Fool For Love' and 'Shadow' (I think cos I haven't quite decided)  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to it What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit, the only exception to this is Quinton Everett III as this character is based on me you can't use it without getting my approval first.  
  
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Love's Energy - Part 2  
  
The next day the weather was back to it's sunny normal and in the Magic Box things were going about as good as usual.  
  
"Anya has that book I ordered yesterday come in yesterday?" Giles asked the woman behind the counter.  
  
"This dangerous spell book here?" asked Anya Emerson. The shop assistant and ex- demon held the book in question between her forefinger and thumb as if it had a contagious disease.  
  
"Yes Anya that one, it's for a customer." Giles replied to her.  
  
"Yes, I believe that is the book I asked for." Quinn said startling everyone in the store due to the fact that no one had heard or seen him enter.  
  
"Wow a sorcerer." said Anya in what passed for her amazed voice.  
  
"I notice that our two resident witches aren't here reading innocent spells." Quinn said looking round with a small smile.  
  
"So this book is for you, hmmm I think it may be underpriced." Anya commented.  
  
"Actually Anya that book already has a 40% mark up on it, despite the fact it was a special order, so I wouldn't go complaining about it if I were you." Quinn told her with a smile.  
  
"Yes Anya, please don't keep saying things are underpriced in front of the customers." Giles said with a scowl  
  
"So how would you like to be paid for this book?" asked Quinn picking up the book, looking at the price of $150 before flipping through it.  
  
"Cash." replied Anya instantly before Giles could open his mouth.  
  
"Cash it is then." said Quinn pulling a very thick wad of hundred dollar bills out of his pocket and flicked three out onto the counter. "Here keep the change."  
  
Anya was speechless, Giles managed to stammer out, "O-oh my." Quinn just smiled.  
  
The door jingled and in walked a beautiful blonde woman who looked like she had a purpose. "Hey Giles we need to get to training." She said to the still stunned older man. "Giles.hey Giles you ok?" she said snapping her fingers in front of his face.  
  
"He's just a little stuned at the tip I just gave him." Quinn said.  
  
The blonde woman shot him a suspisious glance.  
  
"Sorry where are my manners, my name is Quinton Everett III, but you can call me Quinn." Quinn told her with a small bow.  
  
"He's a sorcerer." interjected Anya.  
  
"Yes I am, but you would be Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer would you not?" Quinn asked her.  
  
"Yes I would, but how did you know?" Buffy shot back at him.  
  
"We had to study Slayer Lineage at Wizard Uni, and part of the course was to try to pick the next slayer, and might I say you got a lot of people annoyed by surviving the drowning that The Master gave you, over half the class lost a meritorious mark over that." Quinn told her with a smile.  
  
"So you're a sorcerer are you?" Buffy asked him suspiciously.  
  
"Yup would you like a rose like the one I gave your little sister yesterday?" Quinn said, snapping his fingers and pulling a throne less rose out of thin air and offered it to Buffy with a smile.  
  
Just before Buffy took the rose the door jingled as Willow and Tara walked in and smiled when they saw Quinn at the counter.  
  
"Quinn, hi did Giles get the book you wanted?" asked Willow while walking over to the table and sitting down.  
  
"Yea, he got me a copy and in return I gave him a hefty tip." Quinn said with a smile as he walked over to the table and showed them the book.  
  
"W-wow." Tara said in amazement looking at the cover.  
  
"I know, ain't it cool, the cover changes depending on who looks at it, so what do you see, Tara Maclay, practicing witch?" asked Quinn with a mischievous smile.  
  
"A woman frozen in place with something coming after her." was her answer.  
  
"And Willow?" Quinn asked looking at the red headed witch sitting beside Tara.  
  
"I see two witches with their palms pressed together." she answered.  
  
"And Mr Giles?"  
  
"I see a round table with two women seated at opposite each other." he answered after a few second looking at it.  
  
"Yes, the book knows the future." Quinn told them all before getting up and turning and nodding at Giles "Thank you very much for getting this for me, but I really must be going" and with that he walked to the door, which opened for him, and walked out.  
  
"Well that was different." Giles said with a bemused look on his face.  
  
"Yes well all differentness aside we should be training" Buffy pointed out indicating both Giles and herself.  
  
Buffy began to walk to the door to the training room.  
  
"Yes Quite." said Giles as he followed her.  
  
Once they had left, Willow turned to Tara and asked, "Did you really see that on the book cover?"  
  
Tara nodded before asking "Do you think that book from yesterday has grown more spells?"  
  
"Let's find out." came Willows reply.  
  
She got up from the table and walked across to the bookshelves and picked up the book she had been looking at the day before, and placing it on the table in front of Tara, who picked it up and opened it to the page after the one they had been on.  
  
"So where do you think any new spells would be?" Willow asked  
  
"I dunno." Tara replied flipping over a few more pages.  
  
"Hang on, there's one" Willow said stopping the other witch at a page with scrawling words that seemed to be moving as they looked at them. "Should we see if we can try it?"  
  
"I-I don't think we should without knowing what it does first"  
  
"What what does?" asked Dawn coming up behind them, having entered the store while the two women were looking at the spell.  
  
"Something you shouldn't be looking at Dawn." Willow told her trying to stand in between her and the book and failing.  
  
"Wow a spell, are you two gonna try it?" she asked excitedly  
  
"No we are not and you really shouldn't be looking at it" Willow said in her sternest voice  
  
"What does cosh a nee goo th rentoth mean?" Dawn asked sounding out the unfamiliar words.  
  
As she finished there was a popping sound and a puff of smoke above the book and the words on the page disappeared.  
  
"NO!" yelled Anya from behind the counter  
  
"Dawn!" called Buffy as she ran through the door followed closely by Giles. "What did you do?" she asked shooting her an evil look.  
  
"I read the book." Dawn answered looking a bit scared  
  
"She read a spell that appeared in this book since yesterday" Willow told them as she held the open book to Giles.  
  
"What were the words she spoke?" Giles asked a bit angrily  
  
"It went something like cosh a nee goo th rentoth" Tara said  
  
"I release thee to . punishment?" Giles said after a few seconds to translate the words in his head.  
  
"No, it goes I release thee to revenge" Anya corrected rather testily.  
  
"So after she said that there was a pop and a puff of smoke over the book and the words vanished?" Giles asked making sure he knew what happened.  
  
Dawn, Willow and Tara all nodded in answer.  
  
"It sounds like that Molock guy." said Buffy. "You know from four years ago?"  
  
"Yes it does, but it's not Molock, he's in his own book." said Giles with a frown. "So I have no idea who or what this was, we should look into this."  
  
Hours later when they had exhausted their resources Giles suggested that they should call it a night and make a fresh start in the morning.  
  
Buffy had said that she was going to do a couple of sweeps before calling it a night and Willow and Tara had gone to Tara's place.  
  
"I still think we should try a spell to find whatever it was Dawn released." Willow said for the third time since they had left the Magic Box.  
  
"But what sort of spell, we don't know what it was that was released." Tara replied.  
  
"I don't know but I just don't want whatever it was to be out there hurting innocent people." said Willow with a slightly worried look on her face.  
  
From the darkest corner of the room came a hiss followed by a hissing voice that said "You don't need to worry about that little girl."  
  
From that shadow came a shadowy form that swooped out, knocked Tara over and grabbed Willow and crashed through the closed window.  
  
"WILLOW!" screamed Tara  
  
To be continued. 


	3. Chapter 3

Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Love's Energy - Part 3  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins  
  
Rating - M15+ (New Zealand rating)  
  
Notes - Contains Low level violence  
  
Historians Note - This story takes place between the Season 5 episodes 'Fool For Love' and 'Shadow' (I think cos I haven't quite decided)  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to it What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit, the only exception to this is Quinton Everett III as this character is based on me you can't use it without getting my approval first.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Love's Energy - Part 3  
  
"So that's all it did, it grabbed her and crashed through a window?" Buffy gently asked Tara.  
  
The gang was all at Buffy's house. Half an hour earlier Tara had pounded on Buffy's door sobbing and barely understandable, after letting her in Buffy had called Giles and the rest of the gang.  
  
"Y-yes, Willow was w-worried that it was hurting innocent people and the t- thing hissed from the shadows that sh-she didn't have to worry about that." Tara told them still sobbing slightly.  
  
"Don't worry we will find her." Buffy vowed "I won't let anything happen to her."  
  
"What what if it's already." Tara began before she lost her grip and began sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
"Don't worry Tara, you'd know if anything happened to her, you're too close to her heart and she's too close to yours for you not to." Giles reassured her "You, out of all of us, would know if anything had happened."  
  
This seemed to cheer Tara up enough for her to almost stop sobbing.  
  
"I'll go out and check some of the usual haunts, maybe beat up Willie see if he's heard anything." Buffy said as she stood up. "Anya, Giles go to the store and see if you can find out what this shadow creature is, Xander stay here and keep an eye on Tara and Dawn." with that she turned and walked to the door followed a few seconds later by Anya, Giles and Xander who shut the door after they left.  
  
"Hey Tara it'll be alright Will's a survivor." he said gently as he walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch next to the still upset witch. "Did she ever tell you about the time when ."  
  
"Where am I?.Is anyone there?" called Willow into the pitch black darkness that surrounded her. When there was no answer she began to run through how she had gotten here, where ever here was, she remembered something grabbing her at Tara's and crashing through the window, things started to get a bit hazy from then on.  
  
Willow remembered the thing carrying her across lots of grass before she lost consciousness weather through some magic or something else she didn't know, the next thing she knew she was here in this pitch black darkness.  
  
She realized that she couldn't feel her arms and hands, she knew she still had them because she could feel her fingers on her face when she rubbed her eyes, so she could obviously still move her arms.  
  
She tried walking, but after a few minutes of walking in a straight line and not hitting anything she gave up and sat down.  
  
After another few minutes of nothing she started to run through the spells she had memorized trying to find one that could help her out, but nothing came to mind.  
  
Buffy was patrolling the Restfield cemetery when she heard a very faint rustling coming from behind her. As she turned around something rushed her at speeds she could barely have kept up with, the next thing she knew she was slung over the thing's shoulder and there was a lot of grass rushing beneath them.  
  
With an unusual detachment Buffy noted that there was something not quite right with the grass, it was green maybe too green but that wasn't all that was wrong. Suddenly she realised what was wrong.  
  
The thing wasn't leaving any footprints and with that thought fresh in her mind she lapsed into unconsciousness.  
  
Willow was humming a chant to calm the mind when a voice in the darkness startled her.  
  
"A spell will not help you Witch." the voice hissed the last word as if it were a curse  
  
"Who are you? . What do you want?" Willow called straining to see where the voice had come from.  
  
"I want all witches to die a thousand deaths for what they did to me." came the hissing voice in reply.  
  
Willow hugged her knees in the pitch black darkness and began to feel very lost.  
  
"Tara where are you?" she asked the darkness not really expecting an answer  
  
"Willow is that you?" a voice came out of the darkness.  
  
Willow knew that voice, "Buffy? Is that you."  
  
"Yes, where are you I can't see a thing." came Buffy's voice  
  
"I'm over here . Follow my voice." Willow called trying to pinpoint where Buffy's voice was coming from.  
  
"I'm coming." came Buffy's voice from somewhere close to Willow's left.  
  
"Buffy . I'm here." Willow said reaching out to her left.  
  
Her fingers came into contact with something, with a small start she realised that it was someone's hand.  
  
"Buffy is that you?" she asked in the direction of the hand  
  
"Yes, and that's you?" came Buffy's voice from the area above the hand which by this point had grasped hers. "Where are we?"  
  
"I don't know, there seems to be nothing here." Willow said in Buffy's direction. "Do you have a flashlight?"  
  
"Actually I have, I'd forgotten about it." Buffy replied as a light that seemed extremely bright to Willow's eyes appeared on her chest.  
  
In the reflected glow Willow could see Buffy's face which reflected her relief at finding someone else in the darkness. "I never thought I'd see you again." Willow almost sobbed hugging Buffy.  
  
"Don't worry the gangs looking into it." Buffy reassured her.  
  
"Tara, is she alright?" Willow asked a bit worriedly.  
  
"She's a bit upset but Xander's looking after her." Buffy told her.  
  
Buffy began to shine the light around their surroundings, but because there was nothing for the light to hit they still couldn't see anything.  
  
"Buffy, how did you get here?" Willow asked.  
  
"I was in Restfield when something rushed me and grabbed me and the next thing I know is I'm here." She answered still shining the light around.  
  
Suddenly the light found something huddled in the darkness, it was human shaped. Buffy grabbed her stake, just in case, and rushed forward with Willow close behind. As they reached the form Buffy realised that it wasn't anything alive, in fact it looked like a mummy, all shrivelled and brown.  
  
"That looks like it's been here awhile." Buffy said looking at the object in disgust  
  
"What was the spell Dawn said?" Anya called to Giles from the table in the Magic Box.  
  
"The spell went cosh a nee goo th rentoth." Giles replied from behind the counter.  
  
"Ah.Ahh Ahh I found it, I found it!" Anya called happily.  
  
"You did?" Giles asked in a surprised tone coming over to the table to look at the book Anya was reading.  
  
"This spell." Giles began reading the page, ".was used in the late 10th century to trap a creature called a Gonathol Demon from the neither regions of a large demon dimension when it got free onto our plain of reality, The page containing the creatures essence was lost during the early 12th century, The spell should it ever turn up again should be destroyed in living fire and should never be said as this will reverse the spell and provide the creature with immunity to any future capturing spell." Giles looked up. "We could have a problem."  
  
"How? . We find, Buffy kills, all's well" Anya told him.  
  
Giles scowled at her and replied, "The creature is much stronger than Buffy."  
  
"Xander!" Dawn cried happily as she came down the stairs in the morning sunlight.  
  
"Dawnster." Xander replied as he carried two mugs of coffee towards the living room.  
  
"Where's Buffy?" Dawn asked looking round.  
  
"She went out on a hunt last night." Xander said looking at the clock. "Actually she should have been back by now."  
  
"Tara!" cried Dawn as she looked into the living room to see Tara, still asleep on the couch, surrounded by a blue haze of energy, Xander dropped the mugs and rushed to Tara and tried to reach her but was thrown over to the other side of the room by an unseen force.  
  
"Tara!" Xander yelled at the insensate witch who promptly woke up.  
  
As she woke up the field of energy faded into nothingness.  
  
"W-what.w-where?" she stammered as she looked around and saw Xander and Dawn looking worriedly at her.  
  
"You were surrounded by a field of energy, are you alright" Xander said coming near her nervously.  
  
"Y-yes, but Willow, she's in trouble and I think Buffy's with her, we have to go tell Mr Giles." Tara said standing and starting towards the front door.  
  
She was halfway there when a shadowy figure crashed through the door and grabbed her. The form flew round the room knocking Xander into a wall rendering him  
  
unconscious before grabbing Dawn and crashing through the nearest window.  
  
Dawn had no idea what was going on, one minute she had been standing in the living room of her home and the next she knew she was in an area of complete and utter darkness, she couldn't even see her own hand.  
  
"Uhh . Dawn is that you?" came Tara's voice from next to her.  
  
"Yea." Dawn replied "W-where are we?"  
  
"I think this is where Willow and your sister are." Tara replied reaching out for Dawn's hand.  
  
"She's here?" Dawn asked excitedly.  
  
"Somewhere." answered Tara.  
  
To be continued. 


	4. Chapter 4

Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Love's Energy - Part 4  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins  
  
Rating - M15+ (New Zealand rating)  
  
Notes - Contains Low level violence and one swear word  
  
Historians Note - This story takes place between the Season 5 episodes 'Fool For Love' and 'Shadow' (I think cos I haven't quite decided)  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to it What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit, the only exception to this is Quinton Everett III as this character is based on me you can't use it without getting my approval first.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Love's Energy - Part 4  
  
"WILLOW!" yelled Tara into the pitch black darkness that surrounded them.  
  
From the darkness came an answering call "Tara?"  
  
"Willow!" Tara exclaimed running towards the voice dragging Dawn behind her.  
  
After a few seconds Tara and Dawn could see a light that seemed to be running towards them. Tara sped up and soon ran right into Willows open arms.  
  
"Dawn? Is that you?" asked Buffy coming up behind Willow and noticing that Tara wasn't alone.  
  
"Buffy!" Dawn cried as she ran to give her sister a huge hug.  
  
"How did you two get here?" Buffy asked looking at Tara then at Dawn.  
  
"We were at our house when this creature crashed through the door, we're gonna need a new one by the way, and the creature grabbed us and flew out the window in the living room, which we are also gonna need a new one of." Dawn answered as Willow and Tara broke their embrace.  
  
"So neither of you knows how you got here?" Buffy asked, "This is going to be hard to find our way out."  
  
"Willow . I-I'm s-scared." stammered Tara.  
  
Willow hugged her girlfriend tightly and instantly they were surrounded by a blue haze of energy identical to the one Tara was enveloped by earlier that day.  
  
"Buffy look." Dawn said.  
  
"What the fuck." Buffy said in utter surprise.  
  
Dawn raised her eyebrow at her sisters language while Tara and Willow pulled apart and the blue haze disappeared.  
  
"What?" Tara and Willow asked in unison.  
  
"Did you two not notice the blue energy that was around you?" Buffy asked staring at the two witches in amazement.  
  
"No." Tara and Willow answered in unison.  
  
They looked at each other and said in unison "Thirty-five."  
  
"How are you doing that?" Buffy asked them.  
  
"Anya, wait." Giles called after the woman as she ran up the path to Buffy's house. "the demon could still . why do I bother?" he gave up calling after her and ran after her. He stepped through the rubble that had been the front door.  
  
"Xander!" Anya cried as she ran to her boyfriend's side and cradled his head.  
  
"Uhh Anya is that you?" Xander said as he returned to the conscious world.  
  
"What happened? . Where are Tara and Dawn?" Giles asked looking around.  
  
"Uhh that shadow thing ." Began Xander.  
  
"The Gonathol Demon." Anya supplied.  
  
". it grabbed Tara and then the world disappeared." Xander finished.  
  
"Oh dear" Giles said with a very worried look on his face. "That means it has all three of them"  
  
"Four of them actually, Tara psychically connected with Willow and she saw Buffy there with her, so that means that it has all four of them." Xander said sitting up.  
  
"Oh dear." Giles repeated.  
  
"We found something over that-a-way." Buffy said pointing back the way they had came.  
  
"Something Dawn shouldn't see." Willow pointed out.  
  
"Yea but we can't worry about that now." Buffy retorted.  
  
"What is it?" asked Tara  
  
"A corpse that looks like it's been here a while." Buffy told her.  
  
"That would be mine." came a ghostly voice from the blackness that still surrounded them.  
  
"Who's that?" called Buffy and the other three moved behind her.  
  
"I am Antoinette Rangier, the chosen one." came the voice again.  
  
"A Slayer?" Buffy asked.  
  
"You know of Slayers?" Antoinette's voice coming from their left.  
  
"I am the current one." Buffy told her.  
  
"Ahh I should have known you have the aura of power." Antoinette's ghostly form was becoming visible she appeared to be wearing what looked like rags that had been made into clothing. She had blonde hair down to her shoulders and a cheeky smile.  
  
"How did you come to be here?" Willow asked the ghost.  
  
"I was helping two witches to trap a demon that escaped from what my watcher called a demon dimension, and I was trapped in here when they must have succeeded and trapped the creature on a piece of paper." Antoinette floated to a sitting position on the ground. "I walked for months and couldn't find anything but by that point I had no energy left so I sat down and I must have died a few days later."  
  
Buffy's flashlight chose that moment to give out. "Damn" she cursed hitting the flashlight against her hand.  
  
"Do not worry Slayer" Antoinette said and she began to glow providing all four of them with enough light to see. "My watcher called the demon a Gonathol she said that it could kill all the witches in existence if it got to it's full strength."  
  
"Wait why does it hate witches?" Willow asked the ghost.  
  
"Enough chit chat." came the hissing voice that Willow had heard earlier.  
  
Suddenly Buffy and Dawn vanished. Willow and Tara were left alone in the glow of the ghost.  
  
"Where did they go?" Willow asked the ghost.  
  
"The demon separated you so they could not help, It knows that witches and a slayer were the ones who put it on a piece of paper." Antoinette replied  
  
"B-but where are they?" asked Tara.  
  
"I do not know." Antoinette simply said  
  
"Willow!" Buffy yelled into the darkness surrounding her. "Tara! . Dawn! Where is everyone?"  
  
"Buffy!" Dawn yelled into the darkness surrounding her. "Willow! . Tara! Where did everyone go?"  
  
"The witches you worked with did they give you any idea what they were going to do to the demon?" asked Willow.  
  
"No." Antoinette began. "they said that what they were going to do would trap the demon forever, which since you are here I assume that their promise didn't hold."  
  
"W-when did this all happen?" asked Tara.  
  
"It was the year 965." was Antoinette's reply.  
  
"Well we can tell you that the spell lasted more than a thousand years." Willow said with a slight smile.  
  
"This is a good thing, but this means that the old ways will have been lost and we have no hope of finding a way to trap the demon again." Antoinette said with a ghostly frown.  
  
"Wicca still exists but mostly not in a magical form." Willow told the ghost in an effort to cheer her up.  
  
"I-is there any w-way to get Buffy and Dawn back?" asked Tara a bit nervously.  
  
"I do not know." Antoinette answered.  
  
"The witches must have had and extremely large amount of power to hold a demon of that size and strength long enough to bind it to a page." Willow said voicing her thoughts.  
  
"W-what about that blue energy haze Buffy mentioned earlier?" Tara asked. "Could we somehow use that?"  
  
"I don't know, let's try and see what happens." Willow answered. "Why don't you stand there and I'll stand opposite you and we press our palms together and  
  
concentrate on each others wiccan power."  
  
Tara nodded and stood up while Willow moved opposite her and stretched her palms to Tara who met them with her own. The second their hands touched blue crackling haze of energy burst from their intertwined hands and spread out to cover the immediate area around them.  
  
"Let me help." Antoinette volunteered as she floated towards the two witches. She placed one of her hands into Willow's and the other into Tara's and the energy expanded at a exponential rate till it engulfed the entire area.  
  
"WILLOW!" yelled Tara over the din.  
  
"TARA!" Willow yelled back.  
  
To be continued. 


	5. Chapter 5

Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Love's Energy - Part 5  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins  
  
Rating - M15+ (New Zealand rating)  
  
Notes - Contains Low level violence and one swear word  
  
Historians Note - This story takes place between the Season 5 episodes 'Fool For Love' and 'Shadow' (I think cos I haven't quite decided)  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to it What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit, the only exception to this is Quinton Everett III as this character is based on me you can't use it without getting my approval first.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Love's Energy - Part 5  
  
All around Buffy the blackness was almost flickering and in patches she could see bits of her living room. She glanced to her left and saw Dawn looking scared so she ran towards her but the faster she ran the further away Dawn was.  
  
"Buffy!" yelled Dawn running towards her.  
  
"Dawn! . I'm coming!" Buffy yelled to her. At the same moment she realised that she wasn't just yelling because of the distance there was an immense din of white noise that seemed to be coming from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and promptly tripped and fell rolling to what passed for ground in this place.  
  
About half a mile in the distance Willow and Tara were floating about half a metre off the ground surrounded by a crackling blue energy haze similar to the one they had seen earlier, there was also a faint outline of Antoinette Rangier behind them.  
  
Dawn saw her sister trip, but she couldn't see what had made her look over her shoulder and therefore made her trip all she could see was a bright blue haze in the far distance.  
  
Willow could feel her life-force mixing with Tara's and affecting the area around them. She could feel her love for Tara and she could feel Tara's love for her. Their feelings were almost tangible, she could feel her worries about Dawn and Buffy, she could even feel immense power emanating somewhere off to their left in a far distance, she could feel Buffy's fears for Dawn and she could feel Buffy's fears for her and Tara.  
  
Tara looked into Willows eyes and she knew exactly what she was thinking and realised she could feel the same things Willow could.  
  
"Willow concentrate on my mind." Tara whispered somehow knowing that her fellow witch could hear her.  
  
"I am." Willow whispered back.  
  
The energy field increased, the patches through which they could see the real world increased in size and number.  
  
"We must feed the energy to both each other and into the area surrounding us." Antoinette Rangier told the two witches, she didn't seem to be yelling or even speaking at all it was as if the words were reaching their brains but bypassing the normal methods.  
  
The entire area was ionising Buffy could feel her hair beginning to stand on it's end, she suddenly felt a presence to her left and upon looking at it she found she was sitting next to a patch that led into her living room.  
  
"Can we get out that way?" Dawn asked in her ear.  
  
Buffy looked startled as she hadn't heard her coming "I don't know, try it." She told her grabbing Dawn by the collar and pushing her towards the patch.  
  
In the Summers living room Anya was still cradling Xander's head despite the fact that he had quite recovered.  
  
"We should try and find out where the Gonathol would have taken them all." Giles said sitting on the couch.  
  
There was a flash and suddenly Dawn was sprawled on the floor in the middle of the room, Giles rushed to her side and helped her to sit up.  
  
"Oh." Dawn groaned as Giles helped her up. "Buffy?"  
  
"No, it's Mr Giles, what happened?" he asked with a concerned look.  
  
"We were in a place with no light, Me, Buffy, Willow and Tara and a ghost of a slayer." Dawn told them.  
  
"A slayer ghost?" Giles asked with a interested look at the area where Dawn had appeared.  
  
"Yea, we were all together then we weren't." Dawn said looking confused.  
  
"Go on." Giles prompted.  
  
"The next thing I knew I was alone for a few minutes then things started to happen holes appeared in the blackness and then I saw Buffy in the distance and beyond her a blue haze." Dawn said hurriedly.  
  
"So you had no idea where you were?" Giles asked.  
  
"No. but Buffy, when I got to her she pushed me through one of the holes and then I was here." Dawn finished.  
  
Buffy was running towards Willow and Tara when there was a pulse of light that threw her back about ten feet. When she sat up the only light that was visible was that created by the slayer ghost. She ran to Willow's side.  
  
"Uhh . I don't want to do that again too soon." Willow told her as Buffy helped her to sit up. "Tara!" she yelled scrambling to the other witch's side.  
  
"She's alive Will, she's just unconscious." Buffy said as she felt for a pulse.  
  
"The demon is called a Gonathol Demon, it's power is rooted in this place, which according to Antoinette is called the face of night." Willow told her while making Tara comfortable.  
  
"That face of night?" Buffy asked with a quizzical look.  
  
"Yes, it is created every four and a third million years when certain galaxies are aligned the planet Earth is covered in complete and utter darkness and everything ceases to exist hence you can walk and not hit anything." Antoinette said again her voice by-passed the regular channels. "Somehow the demon has been able to gain access to it and has deposited us here."  
  
"So he's got an all access pass huh?" Buffy said.  
  
"And the spell we just did will attract him here, and he'll be looking to kill us all." Antoinette pointed a ghostly finger over Buffy's shoulder.  
  
Buffy turned round but saw nothing.  
  
"BUFFY!" screamed Willow.  
  
Buffy glanced at where Willow had been a second earlier but she was no longer there, she was being dragged away by the Gonathol.  
  
"Hay asshole, you picked the wrong group of people to screw with." Buffy yelled after the demon as she launched herself at it.  
  
Buffy hit the demon in a tackle that would make a gridiron player proud, the demon dropped Willow and tried to hit the attacking slayer with a rather nasty looking fist. Buffy dodged the fist and somehow managed to get the demon to hit himself in the chest. She looked a bit confused because she had no idea how she had done it. The demon lunged at her Buffy easily moved out of it's way and tripped it so it landed on what passed for the ground. The demon didn't move.  
  
"Huh?" Buffy grunted with a frown.  
  
"Careful he could faking it." Willow warned still laying where she had been dropped.  
  
"Did it breath? 'cos it isn't now" Buffy commented watching the complete lack of breathing.  
  
"Yea, I think it did." Willow told her as she sat up.  
  
The Gonathol suddenly disintegrated leaving behind only a fine white powder.  
  
The darkness around them suddenly stopped being darkness.  
  
Dawn was sitting on the couch when suddenly Buffy was standing in front of her with Willow sitting on the floor next to Xander and Anya and Tara laying at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"Buffy!" cried Dawn happily as she stood up and hugged her.  
  
"My word." Giles exclaimed as he walked in from the kitchen and saw Tara lying at the stairs.  
  
"Tara!" Willow cried as she rushed to her side.  
  
The second Willow touched her they were enveloped in a blue energy haze and Tara awoke.  
  
"Wow." Anya said before turning to Xander. "Why can't you do that?"  
  
To which Xander replied with a scowl.  
  
Willow and Tara were oblivious to the world around them as their lips drew closer together the blue colouring in the energy became solid and obscured the view of anyone that wasn't them.  
  
Their lips met and there was a rush of energy that flowed between them that  
  
intensified the feelings that existed between them.  
  
Buffy and Giles looked at the ball of blue energy in amazement. Giles moved forward to look but Buffy stopped him shaking her head because she realized that this energy was what had saved them.  
  
Inside the blue energy ball Willow pulled away from Tara and the energy began to fade into nothingness.  
  
"Tara, I love you." she whispered.  
  
"I love you too." Tara whispered back.  
  
**THE END**  
  
NEXT MONTH IN BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER FANFICTION BY SHANE HOPKINS.  
  
Murder, mayhem and mystery as The Master crosses over from "The Wish" universe to take Tara hostage in order to blackmail Willow into becoming his lackey again.  
  
Stay tuned for - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: Bargaining Chip  
  
Same Buffy Time. Same Buffy Channel. 


End file.
